The Advent To-Do List

So it's already Day 3 of Advent, and if you, like me, have been procrastinating on making some Advent decisions, this post is here to help you out! It's so easy to get bogged down by searching for the perfect Advent discipline (apt enough, not too hard, not too easy, unique enough) and never get down to making some concrete decisions. Not that different from New Year's Resolutions and Lenten penances.

Here's the thing though. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to happen. Do something.

I'm not going to give you a bunch of options in case you have a hard time choosing between them. Just follow this calendar, and make sure you don't stop. (If you already have something you've decided on, awesome! Let me know in the comments.) If you miss a day, just keep going, and do it another day if possible. If a particular task is not possible one day, switch it with another day. Read your task a day before, so you can add it to your schedule.

Day 3 of 24
Tuesday, 3rd December, 2019

Read this post about Advent and spend five minutes in silence asking God for the grace to make space for Him in your heart this month. [10 minutes]

Day 4 of 24
Wednesday, 4th December, 2019
Listen to the latest Abiding Together podcast: The Light Shines in the Darkness and journal: How is Satan is using fear to keep me away from God? [45 minutes]

Day 5 of 24
Thursday, 5th December, 2019
Before going to bed, do an Examen. Reflect on your day, and where you encountered God. Thank Him for the times you responded to His love, and ask forgiveness for the times you did not. Make a decision for tomorrow. [15 minutes]

Day 6 of 24
Friday, 6th December, 2019
Go for Mass. Journal: What is one thing God said to me during Mass today? [1 hour]

Day 7 of 24
Saturday, 7th December, 2019
Visit an Adoration chapel and tell Him about a problem you don't know how to solve. Try to be quiet and open to His response. [30 minutes]

Day 8 of 24
Sunday, 8th December 2019
It's the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pray a Memorare or nine Memorares for the intention of someone who is suffering in some way (infertility, physical sickness, mental health, grief). The Memorare is not magic, but a powerful prayer calling out to a powerful intercessor. [15 minutes.]

Day 9 of 24
Monday, 9th December, 2019
Read Isaiah 40:11 several times slowly.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, 
Carrying them in his bosom, leading the ewes with care.
Imagine God holding you close to his heart. Stay in His embrace for a while.Then go and give someone a hug and remind them that God loves them. [20 minutes.]

Day 10 of 24
Tuesday, 10th December, 2019
Sing a worship song out loud. Even if you feel stupid singing by yourself. Sacrifice your dignity and receive His freedom in exchange. [15 minutes.]

Day 11 of 24
Wednesday, 11th December. 2019
Read Matthew 11: 28-30. Write down the list of burdens you are handing over to God. [20 minutes.]

Day 12 of 24
Thursday, 12th December, 2019
Read about Our Lady of Guadalupe and pray a Rosary for all nations to come to know Jesus. [30 minutes.]

Day 13 of 24
Friday, 13th December, 2019
Go for Mass. Read Psalm 1 slowly before you go. [45 minutes]

Day 14 of 24
Saturday, 14th December, 2019
Think about someone who has hurt your feelings or offended you recently. Ask God for the grace to forgive them from the heart, and to give up all thoughts of blame, accusation and resentment. Pray for that person's needs. [30 minutes.]

Day 15 of 24
Sunday, 15th December, 2019
It's Gaudete Sunday - share the joy of Christ by texting, calling or visiting someone you had been estranged from (could be yesterday's person). [5 minutes - 1 hour]

Day 16 of 24
Monday, 16th December, 2019
Pray the Divine Office today. [30 minutes]

Day 17 of 24
Tuesday, 17th December, 2019
Make a plan with your family or a group of friends to reach out personally to someone in need this month. [1 hour]

Day 18 of 24
Wednesday, 18th December, 2019
Buy a gift for someone you know who is likely to be in need. Think especially of domestic workers and their children, big families, and people who have lost their jobs recently. If you don't know anyone like that, ask your parish priest. [30 minutes]

Day 19 of 24
Thursday, 19th December, 2019
Wake up in the morning and before touching your phone, give thanks to God for ten blessings. [10  minutes.]

Day 20 of 24
Friday, 20th December. 2019
Go to Mass and visit an Adoration chapel. Invite a friend who wouldn't usually do that to accompany you. [1 hour]

Day 21 of 24
Saturday, 21st December, 2019
Make a morning offering. Through the day, remember to say "I'm doing this for You, Jesus'" as you run errands and get things done. [5 minutes]

Day 22 of 24
Sunday, 22nd December, 2019
Read Eight Tips to Surviving Christmas and make a plan for Christmas week that incorporates the tips. [30 minutes]

Day 23 of 24
Monday, 23rd December, 2019
Visit an Adoration Chapel and re-surrender everything on your mind and heart, especially family tensions and unfulfilled desires. [45  minutes.]

Day 24 of 24
Tuesday, 24th December, 2019
Read Matthew 1: 18 -25. Draw a sketch and place yourself in the Christmas story. Listen to Wonder by Bethel. [45 minutes]

Let me know if you are using this calendar, and if you'd like me to create a printable pdf version. Have a Holy Advent!

Related Reading

Hey, It’s Not Christmas Yet!

On Waiting

Changing My Christmas Wish List

On Waiting

It is rare that I find a Christian who does not love reflecting and pondering on the topic of ‘waiting on the Lord’… usually while journaling and drinking a big cup of coffee. Or maybe that’s particularly an American Christian woman stereotype.

Anyway, the stereotype is based on a very real integral part of every person’s life – waiting and the need for hope. Over the past decade and a half, I’ve probably filled up many journals reflecting on this very topic. I assume if you search through my blog archives, you will find even more. But never more so than at Advent does this aspect rise to the surface. We relive and reflect on the hopes and dreams of the entire world, the ache for fulfilment, the longing for salvation through the centuries in these days. I wrote a little about it in my last post. I wanted to share just a few little insights and ponderings of my own heart.

- Waiting is not forever. Hope does not disappoint. We can get so used to waiting, we sometimes forget that it is not an end in itself. But Jesus came! God is here, close to the hearts of all those who seek Him. That is why waiting and hope and inextricable linked. We are called to wait with joyful anticipation. Let God surprise you! How often do we miss out on His surprises because we have stopped looking for them, our eyes are not lifted up to see them anymore. Don't stop expecting and don't stop asking.

- There are many different periods of waiting during our earthly lives. But look back – so many have been fulfilled! God came through SO many times. I often forget, because I’m looking at the next thing. ‘Remember the days you prayed for what you have now.’

 - Waiting is one of the most beautiful gifts God can give us, because it is an invitation to unite ourselves with the Giver, not the gift. It is perhaps not the easiest gift to receive, but that does not make it any less valuable. Looking back at over a decade of singleness, waiting to receive the gift of a husband and family, I realized I would not change it if I had a choice now, because in the struggle, in the questions, in the adventures, in the solitude… I found an intimacy with God, and a new strength and reliance on Him, that perhaps I would not have received any other way.

 - One of the beautiful gifts of waiting is solidarity with others who wait. Only women who have at some time time struggled with infertility can truly empathize and walk with those who carry that burden. I could preach from the rooftops about how ‘God alone is enough’ and how being single is not the end of the world, but my words have weight because I’ve lived that. I have had such deep and tender moments of shared burdens but shared hope with other single women. But it took both the experience, as well as the willingness to be vulnerable with others about the struggle.

- Waiting is a beautiful way to abide, instead of strive, to be receptive to what God is saying and doing, rather than to grasp at the things I think I need.

 - The key to waiting is trust. God is trustworthy. He will NOT disappoint you. He has NOT forgotten you. He will NOT deprive you. He will NEVER give you second-best. It is when we let trust die in our hearts, that waiting becomes tinged with bitterness, with cynicism, with despair.

- The surest way to rob waiting of its gifts is to start comparing your life with others'. That is taking on a suffering God has not asked you to bear. Comparison is a thief of joy. Your story is different from others'. Your waiting contains gifts they will not receive.

 - God alone really IS enough. I need to remind myself of that when I'm tempted to make the object of my waiting into an idol. He satisfies. Fulton Sheen writes, 'You begin to see that friendship, the joys of marriage, the thrill of possession, the sunset and the evening star, masterpieces of art and music, (...) the industries and comforts of life, are all gifts of God. He dropped them on the roadway of life, to remind you that if these are so beautiful, then what must be Beauty!' He is the One we are really waiting for, and He has promised us Himself.

- 'God is never late, but He is sure never early either.' That line from one of the recent Abiding Together podcasts struck me. God's gonna take His time. Settle back, and don't stress out. 'Lord, take your sweet, sweet time.' 

I pray today for all those of you who wait.

Related Links 

Waiting [Abiding Together Podcast] 

Loneliness and Longing - Bobby Angel

Discernment - Bobby Angel

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Hey, It’s Not Christmas Yet!

I promise I’m not trying to be the Grinch or Scrooge here, but I just want to hit a pause on the whole ‘Yay it’s December so let’s decorate our houses, start playing Christmas carols and spread the Christmas cheer!’ I’m all about Christmas cheer… but IT’S NOT CHRISTMAS YET!

So what, you say? I know it’s tempting, guys. Christmas can be magical, and who wants to miss out on some Christmas magic? This is what it comes down to – God wants to give you much, much more than mere Christmas cheer. And that’s why we have Advent.

I remember often thinking when I was younger, “Why do they keep saying we are preparing for the coming of Baby Jesus during Advent? Didn’t he already come as a baby a long time ago?” I was reminded by a friend a few days ago that the liturgical readings of the first three weeks of Advent focus on the Second Coming of Christ, and it’s only in the last week that we are commemorating the FIRST Coming when Jesus came as a baby.

When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Saviour's first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. CCC 524 

Advent is all about expectancy, waiting, and ardent desire.

We’re all waiting for something. For so many single people, it is a waiting for the right person to come along. For many young couples, it is a longing for a child. For some, it is a hunger for peace and reconciliation within their families, or a longing for freedom from anxiety, depression or addiction for themselves or for someone dear to them.

But deeper within those desires, there is a longing, a desire for fulfilment, a deep ache for something more. Advent is a chance to recognize that desire is really for Jesus, that our hearts are hungry for Him. But the beautiful, exciting thing is that HE IS COMING. Just as the world waited in darkness for the coming of the dawn for centuries before Jesus arrived as a baby in an unknown corner of the world, He has PROMISED He will return, and that He will bring salvation to all those who desire it. He will wipe away every tear, He will right every wrong, He will satisfy every desire of your heart. 

Take heart, my friends! Lift your eyes and see – HE IS COMING! The Second Coming is the end of the world, and we do need to be ready. But for many of us, it may be our own deaths that may come first, and that we need to prepare our hearts for. But there is another coming – the daily coming of Christ. Heaven starts here on earth, if only we desire it enough. ‘God is always trying to give us good things, but our hands are too full to receive them' said Saint Augustine. Which is why we have Advent. We need to stretch our hearts to make room for heaven. We need to empty our hands and open them before God. In a world of instant gratification, we need to consciously choose to embrace the waiting, even when it is tinged with pain.

How can we embrace Advent? I know it’s not much time left, but here’s your chance to redeem the next week

1. Set aside time every day to visit an Adoration chapel. Bring the deepest longings and desires of your heart to Jesus, and just sit with Him in the waiting.

2. Put away your Christmas music and fill your home with Advent music. What’s Advent music? Any music that focuses on waiting, on expectation, on the coming of Christ.

• Waiting Here for You – Jesus Culture 
• Take Courage – Kristene DiMarco 
• Waiting for the Dawn – Salt of the Sound (album) 
• O Come, O Come Emmanuel - The Piano Guys (haunting version) 
• O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Bethel Kids (catchy version) 
• Glory Cry The Angel Choirs - Ed Conlin (Only for Christmas Eve, can someone PLEASE sing this at a Midnight Mass choir and invite me?) 
• I Wonder As I Wander - Audrey Assad 
• Behold - Hillsong 
• Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence - Aly Aleigha 
• O Come to the Altar - Elevation Worship 
• I Will Trust In You - Lauren Daigle 
• Song of Solomon - Martin Smith 
• Even So Come - Passion 
• Our Hearts Will Rise - Ed Conlin 

3. Make an Advent wreath, light a candle every night, and read the liturgical readings. Or pray the Divine Office. The riches and wisdom of the Church shine through the Divine Office.

4. Listen to an Abiding Together podcast every day. I suggest these ones:

• Waiting 
• Advent and the Fellowship of the Feminine Genius – Part 1 
• Advent and the Fellowship of the Feminine Genius Part 2 – Interview with Ali Hoffman 
• The Principles of Abiding 
• Belonging – Advent Part 1 
• Beloved – Advent Part 2 
• Be Still – Advent Part 3 
• Believe – Advent Part 4 
• Hope in Seasons of Darkness 
• Striving Vs. Abiding 

5. Pick one personal act of love to do every day until Christmas:

• Write a letter to a friend 
• Pack a few groceries and find someone to give it to 
• Send an affirming or encouraging text to someone who needs it 
• Hug your family members and tell them you love them 
• Forgive someone who has hurt you 
• Drop in and visit an old relative 

I pray all you have an Advent that allows you to receive more fully the JOY of Christmas. I will be working on some of these things too. Let me know how it goes!

Related Reading and More Advent Song Lists 

Favorite Catholic Advent Songs

10 Advent Songs To Cure the Christmas Craziness 

Eight Tips to Surviving Christmas